hey all,
This weekend Michi and I hung out and celebrated my birthday a bit. Saturday, we met up and made chili. As I've been writing about what a pain it has been to find the ingredients, I thought I'd document the recipe here.
250g chopped stew beef
500g kidney beans
500g canned sweet corn
500g salsa of choice
1 beer of choice
bag of tortilla chips
2 tablespoons chipotle Tabasco
black pepper, salt and oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
I searched my own local grocery store (a Maruetsu), 2 grocery stores in Ageo (a Co-Op and an Ita-yokado), an international food store in the local train station, a Kaldi in Saitama-Shinitoshin (Kaldi is a coffee/international food store), another Kaldi in Ueno train station, and a Meiji-ya in Kyobashi (a highly reputed international food store), and couldn't find anything resembling a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The Meiji-ya was the last store I searched, the afternoon Michi and I met, so I settled for a bottle of chipotle Tabasco sauce.
What you do is toss the meat with black pepper, salt and oil, then brown it. Remove the meat from your cooking pot, and deglaze the pot with half the beer. Next you add everything to the pot: spice, salsa, corn, beans, meat, (and the rest of the beer) etc, and cook for 25 minutes. At the end, and a few handfuls of crushed tortilla chips to your chili. Serve in bowls, and enter paradise.
There is no chopping, no dicing, no peeling the skins off of tomatoes, no 5 hour cook times. This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious! I was a little worried that the chipotle Tabasco wouldn't add enough flavor for a whole pot of chili, but the flavor was perfect and Michi was quite impressed.
Michi also made me a birthday cake that was pretty good. The chili recipe above is my own adaptation of one by the almighty Alton Brown, and Michi made my birthday cake in a manner that would have done Mr. Brown proud. Most Japanese homes, apartments etc do not have ovens; only toaster ovens, so I was wondering how she'd make cake. Her recipe was okara mixed with cocoa powder, plus eggs beaten with brown sugar over a double boiler until thick and foamy. Combine the two, then add milk, chopped nuts and chocolate, then bake in the microwave. For a pan, Michi cut one side off a cardboard juice carton, and lined it with a brown paper bag. The last bit is particularly like Alton Brown: who needs a cake pan when you have a juice carton and a brown paper bag? Why buy a specialist tool that only does one thing when you can build your own, or use something else that can be used in many ways?
On Sunday (today), we got to skype with one of my friends, and afterwards went to the Tokyo National Science Museum near Ueno station. Pretty interesting place, with lots of displays geared towards kids, which was perfect for me. We even got to investigate a display about what types of rock found in throughout Japan, so we could see what type of rock we'll be climbing on in Jogasaki next weekend. After that, we had a late lunch at the International Children's Library, also near Ueno train station, where we finally said good bye until next weekend.
What makes Shakespeare a liar is Romeo's line "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Personally, I've always seen Romeo and Juliet as a cautionary tale more about adolescent infatuation than about true, lasting love, but I really don't understand this line. There is nothing sweet about saying good bye to someone you like; I'm not even talking about someone with whom you're deeply, passionately in love with. Michi and I like each other, and I like to think that we're old enough to take things a step at a time. Still, saying good bye (even for the span of 5 days) sucks.
Cheers,
